Part 1 of this small series on weight loss gave lots of information (which you are welcome to digest in chunks!) about food and how to use it toward your fat loss goals.
This post, Part 2, is gonna give you a few ideas for food selections. Not recipes… food selections. The recipe-making part is up to you – and there is no shortage of recipes available online (I post some favorites here on the blog!)

I know that when I started eating healthier, I found myself in a whole new world of foods. Gone were the days of meatloaf and sausage/rice concoctions… but after 37 years of shopping and cooking with those ingredients it was hard to think of what to replace them with. If white rice isn’t a “great” choice, what could I eat instead? If hamburger meat isn’t calorie-friendly, what meats do I buy now? In part 1 we talked about categories of foods – protein, carbs, fats that we need. Simple food lists such as these were very helpful for me:

not as much as meat and dairy, but veggies do have protein – spinach, broccoli, peas

Sources of carbs:Carbs are in everything it seems, but there are some sources that are more nutritious than others Also slower digesting carbs will keep you full longer and avoid a large spike/crash situation (ex: sugar versus whole grain rice). Bonus – some of the more unprocessed ones have protein and fiber too!

Sources of fats (just keep tabs on the amounts):olive oil
coconut oil
nut oils
nuts
coconut
whole eggs
you’ll also get it naturally occuring meats and dairy to some extent

Don’t be afraid to mix and match or experiment with new uses. I really dislike cottage cheese as a cold dish served by itself, so I use it in a lot of baking and stir it into meals as I would shredded cheese. I do the same with greek yogurt. If I am scrambling eggs I sprinkle some oatbran on it – gives me the carbs I need and tastes just fine! Beans make a great variety of dips and, believe it or not, DESSERTS! … as do sweet potatoes! And if you search the blog you’ll find a recipe for making YOUR OWN chocolate bars from coconut oil

*note – some people are more or less concerned about additives and such in their foods, so this list will contain items that you may not agree with eating (such as low fat dairy). those items are listed anyway because other people may not share that philosophy of eating so….*